This invention relates to a bulb socket suited for use, for example, in a combination lamp of a vehicle.
For example, in a rear combination lamp of a vehicle, a bulb is attached through a bulb socket to a back cover mounted between a trunk room and a rear portion of the vehicle. In such a bulb socket as shown in FIG. 4, a socket housing 2 of a substantially tubular shape is mounted through a gasket 1b in a mounting hole 1a in a back cover 1. Engagement pins 3b that project from a peripheral surface of a base 3a of a bulb 3 are engaged respectively in J-shaped grooves 2a formed in an inner peripheral surface of the socket housing 2. A plus metal terminal 4 and a minus metal terminal 5 are provided within the socket housing 2 in which the bulb 3 is to be fitted. A bulb-side plus terminal 4a, which is curved into a S-shape, and is adapted to contact a plus metal terminal 3c of the bulb 3, is formed at one end of the plus metal terminal 4, and a feeder-side male terminal 4b, constituting a feeder-side connection portion, is formed at the other end of this plus metal terminal. A bulb-side minus terminal 5a, adapted to abut against the base 3a of the bulb 3, is formed at one end of the minus metal terminal 5. A feeder-side male terminal (not shown), constituting a feeder-side connection portion, is formed at the other end of this minus metal terminal. The feeder-side male terminal 4b is disposed within a connector housing 6 which projects downwardly beyond a bottom surface 2b of the socket housing 2. The feeder-side male terminal 4b is connected to a female terminal 8, which is inserted into the connector housing 6 through a rubber ring 7, to constitute the feeder-side connection portion. The feeder-side male terminal 4b is connected to an exterior feeder side. This feeder-side connection portion projects from the bottom surface 2b of the socket housing 2 by a distance generally equal to the overall length of the female terminal 8.
However, the above bulb socket has the feeder-side connection portion projected long from the bottom surface 2b of the socket housing 2, and therefore the dimension of the bulb socket projecting from the back cover 1 toward the trunk room is long. As a result, when the bulb socket is to be mounted on the back cover mounted in a lamp-mounting space formed between the trunk room and the rear portion of the vehicle, the dimension of the bulb socket projecting from the back cover toward the trunk room is long, so that a sufficient operating space is not available, which has resulted in a problem that the efficiency of the mounting operation is lowered.